Frederick William BLECHYNDEN

Regimental number5993
Place of birthYork, Western Australia
ReligionMethodist
OccupationTelephone linesman
Address58 Russell Street, Victoria Park, Western Australia
Marital statusMarried
Age at embarkation32
Height5' 7"
Weight135 lbs
Next of kinWife, Mrs E Blechynden, 58 Russell Street, Victoria Park, Western Australia
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date27 March 1916
Place of enlistmentPerth, Western Australia
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name11th Battalion, 19th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/28/4
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Fremantle, Western Australia, on board HMAT A28 Miltiades on 7 August 1916
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll11th Battalion
Other details from Roll of Honour CircularEnlisted 27 March 1916. Taken on strength, 26 December 1916.
FateKilled in Action 16 April 1917
Place of death or woundingLagnicourt, France
Date of death16 April 1917
Age at death33
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsAustralian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France

Villers-Bretonneux is a village about 15 km east of Amiens. The Memorial stands on the high ground ('Hill 104') behind the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, Fouilloy, which is about 2 km north of Villers-Bretonneux on the east side of the road to Fouilloy.

The Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux is approached through the Military Cemetery, at the end of which is an open grass lawn which leads into a three-sided court. The two pavilions on the left and right are linked by the north and south walls to the back (east) wall, from which rises the focal point of the Memorial, a 105 foot tall tower, of fine ashlar. A staircase leads to an observation platform, 64 feet above the ground, from which further staircases lead to an observation room. This room contains a circular stone tablet with bronze pointers indicating the Somme villages whose names have become synonymous with battles of the Great War; other battle fields in France and Belgium in which Australians fought; and far beyond, Gallipoli and Canberra.

On the three walls, which are faced with Portland stone, are the names of 10,885 Australians who were killed in France and who have no known grave. The 'blocking course' above them bears the names of the Australian Battle Honours.

After the war an appeal in Australia raised £22,700, of which £12,500 came from Victorian school children, with the request that the majority of the funds be used to build a new school in Villers-Bretonneux. The boys' school opened in May 1927, and contains an inscription stating that the school was the gift of Victorian schoolchildren, twelve hundred of whose fathers are buried in the Villers-Bretonneux cemetery, with the names of many more recorded on the Memorial. Villers-Bretonneux is now twinned with Robinvale, Victoria, which has in its main square a memorial to the links between the two towns.

Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
169
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Commemorated on Postmaster General's Department Roll of Honour, Commonwealth of Australia Building, Perth, Western Australia. Dedicated to 'Officers from Western Australia who gave their lives in the Great War 1914-1918'.
Other details

War service: Western Front

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
Sources B2455 file 3091741